(RightIsRight.co) – This school year, Illinois will become only the fifth state in the U.S. to ban corporal punishment in all schools as Democrat Governor JB Pritzker signed the new law this month.
Such legislation prohibits physical punishment in private schools while maintaining a ban that has been in place for public schools for the past 30 years.
When the ban takes effect in January, Illinois will join New Jersey, Iowa, Maryland, and New York in stopping paddling, spanking, or hitting in every school.
Democrat State Representative Margaret Croke took on this issue after the American Association of Pediatrics updated its call to end corporal punishment.
In addition, the association argued that such practices can worsen behavioral or mental health problems and hinder cognitive development. It also highlighted that corporal punishment is disproportionately used on Black males and students with disabilities.
“It was an easy thing to do. I don’t want a child, whether they are in private school or public school, to have a situation in which corporal punishment is being used,” Croke said.
Moreover, the World Health Organization has labeled it “a violation of children’s rights to respect for physical integrity and human dignity.”
Last year, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) introduced a bill, co-sponsored by Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (IL), to ban corporal punishment in schools receiving federal funds. The bill was sent to a Senate committee for a public hearing in May 2023 but has not moved forward since.
Currently, 17 states allow corporal punishment in schools, although four of these prohibit it for students with disabilities. While state law does not ban it in North Carolina, every school district blocked its use in 2018. Illinois had already stopped corporal punishment in public schools in 1994.
The new law does not apply to home schools, as home-schooled students follow the same rules during school hours as they do after school.
For student-athletes, correction on the field or court, such as running laps, would not count as corporal punishment, Croke explained during the floor debate last spring. “I do not believe this would apply by any means because when we tell a kid to run laps, the goal is not necessarily to inflict pain,” Croke said.
The debate included some Republican concerns that banning corporal punishment in private schools might lead to regulations on other aspects like curriculum or religious teachings.
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